Heathens
by extraordinarynow
Summary: With Camden no longer safe for her family, Eloise is sent by her Uncle Alfie to Birmingham to continue her career as a nurse under the protection of The Peaky Blinders. It is going swimmingly, until one of the gangsters ends up on her ward with four gunshot wounds and Eloise's sheltered upbringing is thrown into chaos.
1. Chapter 1

For Eloise, the day had begun with normal duties. She had reported at seven am and, in addition to caring for seventeen patients, as a bedside nurse had done a daily sweep and mop, dusting and fetched in the coal to maintain an even temperature in the ward.  
'A nurse's notes are of utmost importance,' she muttered to herself as she stood at the large desk at the far end of the ward, whittling her nib to her individual taste. The flecks from the wood and the quick grating of the knife struck up an even rhythm as she recalled the rules that as a trainee had been bitterly drilled into her.

At first she had taken such care and pride over her whittling. Imagining that the pencils she used were the most important thing in her young life. Now, the short brunette simply came and went from the hospital- seven until eight- completing her duties thoroughly as though they were second nature. She filled the kerosene lamps, cleaned the chimneys and trimmed the wicks in her ward. As a graduate nurse- who was in (mostly) good standing with the director, she worked quickly and quietly, and prayed for her evening off each week. It was for courting purposes, but as the best kept secret in Birmingham, Eloise rarely left her small apartment aside from coming to work. Even her groceries were delivered, courtesy of her Uncle.

Alfred Solomons was a huge name in London. Camden precisely, which was where Eloise had been born. The only child of Henry Solomons, Eloise had been the shining star of the family, and pursuing a medical career had only made her more of a treasure in her family's eyes. Unfortunately this had also made her a target. When she had been told upon her graduation that it would be too dangerous for her to work in London Alfie had ensured that she had a job in Birmingham, under the protection of the Peaky Blinders.

And indeed, when chaos fell on her hospital wing that morning, it had not been the trolley with a body soaked in blood, the rush of doctors, or the screaming woman who had caught her attention. It had been Thomas Shelby that her eyes had been drawn to, the man who had arranged for her position in the hospital, the man who had provided her accommodation and agreed to keep her identity a secret.

A hysterical voice, "Please can we get some help here! Please! It's alright Michael, it's alright Michael you're gonna be ok, just keep breathing… just keep breathing."

Not that he had looked at her. He had stood in the flickering light, staring down with helpless bewilderment at the body, while two younger boys flanked him either side.

"Penetrating chest trauma! Three bullets!" a scream rang out, and Eloise immediately rushed to the bedside, staring for a second at the body which looked like it had been flayed open. His lungs heaved with effort and his hands clenched at his sides. From the amount of blood Eloise didn't know how he was still conscious, unless of course it wasn't his. Eyes snapped shut, nostrils flared, teeth gritted, he howled like an animal.  
She didn't register who the man was, only that there were two obvious punctures, one at the bottom of his ribcage and one just below at his waist.  
She reached forward, and tugged at the top of his blood-soaked shirt, to reveal two more bullet holes near the top of his chest. How was he still alive?

The hysterical woman was quiet for three seconds, as she nodded at the attention the man was receiving, and took count of the men stood beside Thomas.  
She suddenly exploded, "No, no, I don't want fucking kids in here!"  
Thomas blinked slowly and then he raised a hand to calm her as she shouted "I want soldiers, I don't want fucking kids who joined us for the sport!"  
The younger boys grimaced, having never been on the wrathful end of the matriarch of the Peaky Blinders before, and were quickly ushered from the room by Thomas.  
"I want men who served in here!" she demanded.  
She pushed a doctor and Katherine, the director of the nurses aside, and Katherine pleaded, "Mrs Gray please..." But she didn't listen, she sobbed over the man on the table and it was only then that Eloise realised who the man on the table was- Michael Gray.  
Polly was pulled away by Thomas, who tried to reason with her, "Let them do their job, let them do their job alright, I'll be back, with soldiers."

Despite Polly Gray's sobs, Eloise's mind worked quickly and she felt along the back of his neck, near the spinal cord. Three of the four bullets had been located but the forth was still missing.  
She had treated one bullet wound before, Uncle Alfie's secret she called it. He had been shot in the chest but it was Eloise who found that the bullet wasn't in his back or in his chest at all- it had moved to his shoulder and it had been extremely tricky. At the damage these wounds had created though, she knew that this was not the low-velocity, back alley London gun-wound she had treated her Uncle for. This was four highly lethal high-velocity weapon wounds, and if they didn't act fast and transfer him some blood, Michael Gray would die.  
Her delicate fingers grazed across his shoulder blade, and she found it.  
"Fourth bullet," she said clearly, indicating to the senior doctor.  
He nodded and managed a weak, "Well done Nurse Barrow," before he pushed the trolley away to surgery.  
Eloise nodded once, not batting an eye-lid at the fact he had called her by the wrong name. That was who she was now, no longer Eloise Solomons, but Eloise Barrow. She blinked at the blood on her hands and sighed quietly before washing up and fetching a mop.

Eloise hadn't been to church in a very long time, but the following morning she attended Sunday mass in the town. She had been unable to sleep that night, and would have preferred to remain at the hospital to await the result, but as soon as he duties were complete she'd been ushered out not only by her superiors but also by the two mountain-built men who Thomas Shelby had hired to guard Michael Gray's room.

She should attend church more often, she knew, if only for the fact it would buy her another evening off work, but Ellie knew that more sincere prayers were said in the rooms of hospitals than they were in communion.  
And Polly Gray must have been praying extra hard, because a few hours after surgery, by some miracle of God- Michael Gray awoke.

She shouldn't have listened, she knew, but she couldn't help but feel intruiged by the family who had aided her in continuing a medical career. She cleaned the fireplace, bonnet hiding her face from the two guard-dogs who had been promptly searched by Polly as she entered.

"He said you took four bullets, only one was live. One was ricocheted, two already spent," Polly spoke calmly to her son as he stirred awake at her arrival.  
"Two had passed through John. The last thing I remember was his face. I watched him go. Where's Tommy?"  
"Don't worry about Tommy just get better."  
"Where is he?"  
"Tommy's back, we're all back. Garrison and Watery Lane, Charlies."  
"I need a cigarette."  
"No. I've made a decision."  
"Give me a cigarette Mum."  
"It's not allowed."  
"It's not allowed?"

It most certainly was not allowed, under any circumstances, but as Polly handed her son a cigarette, Eloise made sure to keep her focus on the cinders, who was she to deny a man who had just evaded death a smoke?

"I've decided we're gonna to get away."  
"Oh yeah?"  
"Just me and you, Australia. I've got a magazine. America's no good, cause that's where they are, but there's no Italians in Australia."  
"I think there are Mum," he groaned, bending his arm to drag again but it was promptly snapped off him.  
"Bad ones I mean," she retorted, taking a drag herself.  
"Have you stopped taking those prison tablets?"  
"Now don't you worry about me,"  
"I do."  
"Just you get better. The doctor says it'll be five weeks then you'll be up and walking. Now... there's a boat that leaves on February 13th"  
"Tell Tommy I need to see him. Tell him to bring a gun small enough to put in the chamber pot in case they come-"

Again Eloise busied herself with the patient notes at the other end of the room, seemingly unconcerned with who 'they' were. How many enemies could one boy have?  
"I've banned Tommy from coming."  
There was a pause, as he watched her carefully.  
"Are the lads at the factories at work-"  
"Forget the fucking factories…"  
"Is there any word of them going out on strike?"  
"We're going to Australia. Just be you, me, your sister."  
He sighed deeply and shook his head.  
"I found out where she was buried, somewhere outside Melbourne."  
"Listen Mum, I'm gonna get better slowly. But you need to get better fast. Without you he falls apart and without him… without him they'll take us all. You've got to get us through this. And I promise, I'll board that train with you and we'll go to Australia."

The hope in Polly Gray's eyes was difficult not to stare at, but Eloise managed it as she saw in her peripheral the woman stood and kissed her son on the forehead.  
"Keep those men the other side of the door," Michael insisted, "their chatter annoys me."  
Polly nodded and took a final glance around the room, her eyes lingering on Eloise for a moment before she stormed out of the ward, no doubt to scold the watch-dogs.

Eloise wondered if Polly had left the bottle of liquor on Michael's table on purpose. Pouring a glass of water, Eloise hurried over, dropping the water onto the table and picking up the hip-flask quickly, sweeping them into her pinafore. If there was one thing she had learned growing up on the streets of Camden, even if it had been part of dynasty, it was how to have light fingers.

"I'd prefer one of those," Michael Gray insisted, nodding from the water, to the whisky which Eloise had taken away.  
"It won't do you no good," Eloise replied shortly, before reaching for his patient files to see when his vitals had last been recorded. She pursed her lips, understanding why he was overdue- no nurse dare interrupt Polly.  
She pulled the whittled-sharp pen from behind her ear and glanced to the clock on the wall, well aware of the Gray boy's eyes on her.  
"And you're my doctor are you?" he wheezed, leaning forward as though he were about to snatch it from her, but wasn't able.  
"As good as," she assured him with a small smile, before she reached for a clean thermometer. "Open your mouth please," she held out the small device.  
A wicked smile danced across his lips, despite the obvious pain in his eyes, "I'd prefer it if you opened yours."  
Having learned a quick tongue from her father and Uncle, she couldn't help but snap back, "Did your mother teach you to speak to women like that?"  
He smirked and inclined his head to the left, as though he were privy to a secret that she didn't know, and Eloise couldn't help but stare down at him, supposing that there was a lot that he knew that she didn't.  
Unfortunately for Michael, there were things Eloise knew too. That there was more than one way to take a temperature for example.  
"Open your mouth so I can take your temperature," she retorted, leaning over him and waving the thermometer in front of his face, "or I'll stick it somewhere else, and it will not be pleasant."

He wheezed, half a laugh, half in pain, and opened his mouth obligingly. Eloise took his temperature quickly and then the reading, placing the thermometer on his tray table. Before the reading- average- slipped her mind, she reached into her bonnet and pulled out one of her sharpened pens.

He was looking at her awkwardly, she could tell, and she so she wasn't surprised when he stated, "You're fairly young to be a qualified nurse."  
Without missing a beat, she pressed a full stop to the notes and returned her gaze to Michael before replying, "And you're fairly young to have taken four bullets in some sort of gang war, yet here we are."  
A coarse chuckle left his mouth again, before his eyes winced in pain and her look of defiance turned to compassion automatically.  
Eloise replaced his clipboard on the bed, and reached for the glass. She quickly glanced towards the door and, seeing that the armed men were still outside the door, quickly threw the water down the sink. With her fast fingers, she pulled out the hip-flask and poured less than a shot of whisky into the glass. Tucking the thermometer into her apron, she smiled and held the glass out to him.  
"Sleep," she instructed, "that's Doctor's orders. Your body will heal faster if you are asleep."

He glanced again at the men behind the door, then at the glass suspiciously as if half sure she might be about to poison him. He reached over, took the glass and drank the shot, wincing again at the movement, but relief passing over his face as he sank the drink. His eye-lids fell to a close and Eloise took the glass, making a mental note to rinse it out herself before putting it on the kitchen-trolley.

For the first time in a long while she stopped in at the grocers on her way home from work and brought herself a bottle of brandy. It was silly, she supposed, drinking alone in her small apartment, but after lighting a fire and heating a bath of water she felt content sinking into the water and drinking enough brandy until she dozed off.


	2. Chapter 2

Eloise shuffled on her feet at the door, eyes flitting beside the country-side round woman in front her and her patient who was sat shuffling papers in the room. Eloise knew that Michael Gray wasn't to have guests who hadn't been personally vetted by Polly Gray and searched by the thugs that guarded his door. However on this occasion one of the thugs was on lunch and other in the bathroom, and Eloise let her in because the woman had a kind face.  
Eloise cleared her throat, "Mr Gray?"  
"Yes send him in."  
She winced, not out of the impersonal manner he addressed her. As his bed-side nurse, Ellie was used to not being looked at twice by her patients. To him, she was a dispenser of pills and a scribbler of notes, nothing of interest. Instead, she winced because she knew he was expecting Thomas Shelby himself to appear any moment. Since he had been diagnosed as stable though, Michael Gray had not had a visit from Mr Shelby, something Eloise knew was deeply grieving "It's your mother."  
"Oh fuck."  
Yes, Eloise though, oh fuck indeed.

Eloise stepped aside as the woman entered, giving her a polite nod and holding a brown paper bag. Eloise quickly disappeared, but she couldn't help but busy herself just outside of Michael's door, staring blankly at the patient charts tacked to the wall. Not an inherently nosy person, Ellie couldn't believe how quickly she had resorted to hovering- like a dragonfly. After receiving a telegram from her Uncle, telling her to keep an eye on her new patient and to keep an ear out for any mention of Peaky Blinder business, she hovered around the well-armed guards at the door, hovered when Polly visited, and even hovered when she knew Michael was asleep. She couldn't help herself. It was an act of protection, she knew, that even when Michael was alone, he was never _really_ alone, and if someone sought to hurt him- they would be less likely to do so with a witness. At least Eloise supposed.

Their conversation was a struggle and Michael could not have made it any clearer that he did not want the woman to be there. When she asked if he wanted her to leave and he had bluntly told her 'yes' Eloise had half a mind to storm in there and tell him to mind his manners but, thankfully, a short chuckle sounded through the door and Eloise blinked, had he made a joke?  
Whatever softness Michael had shown the woman was quickly gone and Eloise frowned deeply, 'I'm expecting Tommy,' he had said. What a complete liar.  
His mother said she would leave, and as the door opened, Eloise spun to give her a small smile. The woman was in tears, and Eloise realised that she cared, too deeply. In a different way to the way Polly did.  
"Make sure he's being looked after," the woman said with a crack to her voice and Eloise nodded, watching as the woman padded down the corridor.

Entering the room, Eloise stared quietly at Michael, who was occupied with his hands. Eloise stepped forward and peered into the paper bag on the table.  
"That was your adoptive mother?" she asked gently, "she's very pleasant…"  
'Unlike the rest of the visitors you have' she mentally added.  
When Michael didn't reply Eloise huffed softly and took the apples, which caught his attention.  
"Shall I get rid of these before your next guest arrives?" she asked dubiously, pretty sure that Thomas Shelby was not going to be gracing the hospital with his presence.  
"Yes and bring in a couple more chairs," Michael strained in reply, finally looking at her with unreadable eyes. She nodded, no emotion on her face though she calculated how many guests he was expecting, maybe the infamous Thomas Shelby would be coming after all.  
"Of course," she nodded, before turning to reach for the door, but it was wrenched from her grip and Thomas filled the space, watching the pair with a blank expression. Seconds passed, and Eloise stood awkwardly, bag of apples clutched to her chest, as Thomas did not step aside to let her pass.  
"Interesting," he spoke eventually, every syllable calculated, "Miss Barrow isn't it? What's that you've got there?"  
Eloise froze, he had recognised her immediately. Eloise Barrow was the name Uncle Alfie had fashioned for her when she left Camden, only him and Thomas knew who she was, and no doubt his mind was already jumping to conclusions about why out of all the patients in the hospital it was her who was Michael's primary nurse.  
Thomas leaned over to peer into the bag, noticing the apples, and he glanced up at Michael. "Your mother was here," he noted, before smartly stepping aside from the doorway and moving to put his briefcase on the table. Turning to Eloise he stated, "You can go, but bring.."  
Eloise cut him off, "Two more chairs, I know," and she all but ran from the room.

As the meeting started, Eloise busied herself with duties which needed to be completed primarily around and by Michael's door. She listened for anything that her Uncle might find interesting, 'Especially Italians,' he had instructed, but there Eloise heard nothing of that. After an hour, when other visitors had begun to complain about the smell of cigarette smoke drifting from under his door Eloise found the nerve to stick her head into the room.  
"Sorry ladies, there's no smoking in here," she tried to say with as much authority she could summon, but Michael didn't even look up and in the brief moment Eloise could only see worry etched onto his features. Polly simply pushed a finger to the door, "Yes love, we know," she replied, and shut the door in her face. With a sigh, Eloise padded down to the staff office, reaching for one of the apples out of the brown paper bag, and taking a crunch.  
Dear god it was delicious, and Eloise knew that they wouldn't last long come the later afternoon shift change, so she placed one into her pinafore, they had been for Michael after all and she guessed he might want a bit of home comforts after what was going on in there.

Eloise busied herself with other patients until they left. It was only when she was sure they were all gone that she returned to his room and smiled softly, but he wasn't looking at her, only staring at his hands again.  
"Catch," she said, pulling out the apple and making to toss it across the room to him. He flinched, and then winced in pain, shooting her a scathing look.  
"That was cruel," he stated as she chuckled and placed the apple instead on the meeting table, which had been completely cleared- not the scattered mess it had been before.  
"Oh don't be a baby," Eloise replied with an eye-roll, heading over to the medicinal cupboard and unlocking it to take out his daily medication, "if you're well enough to host a meeting you're well enough to play catch, you're practically healed." Michael watched her pour out the dosage he had before his dinner, and then took it from her with a roll of his eyes. After draining the liquid with a shudder, he finally reached for the apple, but instead of eating it, he instead put the fruit to his nose and inhaled deeply.  
"They're so tasty," Eloise said with a small smile, "it makes such a change to have fresh fruit that doesn't smell like soot and muck."  
Michael nodded, and took a bite of the apple, and Eloise leaned against the back of a chair, previously occupied by one of Shelby Company Limited.  
"I know who you are," he said, and despite her efforts to remain calm and composed the light faded from her eyes a little, "Tommy told me."  
Eloise turned her back to him, taking the medicinal cup to the sink and beginning to rinse it out.  
"Now I know why you've been hanging around here so often," he tutted, and Eloise swore she could hear the hint of a taunt in his voice. She didn't turn but if she had she'd have seen him with the first smile on his face in a long time. "And I thought you were always here because you had taken a fancy to me…"  
Eloise huffed, finally taking the bait, annoyed at herself that she found his cocky smirk to be annoyingly attractive.  
"I worked here long before you showed up crying and filled with four bullets," she barked, "one of which would have gone unnoticed if I hadn't been here, may I remind you."

He blinked at her, surprised to see such a fiery temper.  
"And I will work here long after you hobble to your feet and trot back to Thomas Shelby," placing her hands on her hips, she looked at him long and hard, "which hopefully will be very _very_ soon."  
Eloise huffed again and left the room and while she had meant to take the ashtray out with her to dispose of, it was left on the desk, and he was left in the chair. It gave Eloise some satisfaction to know that the wheeled chair was highly uncomfortable after long periods of time, and she promised herself that she would not return to his room until it was time to serve dinner, which was a further hour away.


	3. Chapter 3

Eloise glanced out of her small window and listened to the rain. Her fingertips stroked the piece of paper she'd been permitted to take from the staff office and she took her pen in her hand before beginning.

 ** _Dearest Uncle,_**

 ** _The Gray boy's condition remains stable enough, he is in a chair and will soon be able to walk…_**

"And Absalom said to Hushai, 'Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?' Then Hushai said to Absalom, 'No! For whom the Lord, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be and with him I will remain."

Eloise heard the unmistakable squeaking of a wheelchair down the ward but- with a short glance towards Mrs Eldridge's hopeful face- she didn't falter with her reading aloud. She slowly turned the worn pages of the bible in her hands, ignoring the figure which had paused in the doorway. Eloise knew it was Michael, and she tried not to let her face betray her as she read confidently and clearly to her oldest patient.

Later, while administering Michael Gray's medication, she was confronted about it.  
"It's not a nurse's duty to read aloud to patients is it?" he asked her.  
"It's not a requirement, no," she replied softly, noting down his medication on his notes, "if we're too busy we are welcome to decline, but Mrs Eldridge has a limited time left here…"  
Michael nodded and his eyes scanned Eloise's face, as she reached to take the small dispensary unit which held his medication he reached and took her hand.  
She jolted, surprised and not at all comfortable. With all his meetings and the bodyguards at the door, trying to see Michael Gray as a patient and not as a gangster was getting increasingly difficult. She didn't say a word and raised a curious eyebrow.  
"Read to me," he stated, not quiet a question but in a voice soft enough to let Eloise know she could refuse if she wanted to.  
"You don't have a bible…"  
"Read me something else then."  
With a small smile, she placed two pills into the dispensary unit and placed them on his bedside table.  
"Take that first," she instructed, before heading to find something to read.

"Chapter one, The Cyclone-"  
"That looks like a children's book," Michael interrupted, prompting a frown to form across Eloise's face. She quickly dodged his hand as he reached for the book, to examine the cover, and pulled back her chair as though to leave.  
"It is a children's book," she nodded, "but it's very good, and it's the only thing I could find, so if you aren't going to listen quietly then I'm going to leave."  
Michael narrowed his eyes at her, before reaching and taking a sip of water.  
Eloise returned to her seat and began.  
"Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many many miles…"

Eloise, who was quite taken with the story of Dorothy and Oz, did not even realise that Michael had fallen asleep as she kept reading. He had not given away any indication of whether he was enjoying the story or not, whether he was entertained by the house flying away in a storm and landing on a Wicked Witch, or whether he was amused by the illustrations of the small Munchkin people who inhabited Munchkin-land. Eloise was amused enough, and when she realised her voice had lulled him into a sleep, she carefully closed the book and left it on his bedside cabinet.

 _ **This evening after work I attended, as per your instruction, a night of dancing and champagne with the mustachio-d man who has been leaving flowers at my doorstep and at the hospital. Though I did not glean much information from him, the evening was as eventful as you might hope…**_

The bar they entered smelled of cigarettes and alcohol, and a band played lively music on a small stage in the corner. It was a little fancy for Eloise's tastes, not that her experience of bars and clubs was very vast. In London she had only been allowed to drink at establishments verified by her Uncle Alfie, and only then could she go if accompanied by her brother. When the gentleman with her offered her a glass of champagne he sounded America, though his voice contained a small accent that Eloise noted but did not comment on. Italian.

She knew that the law was essentially the same for women in Birmingham, that they were not permitted to drink alone either, which was why Eloise's eyes were immediately drawn to a fur-clad woman smoking without a companion at the bar.  
It was Polly Gray. Eloise couldn't help but gaze at her over the shoulder of her date with awe. Polly smoked and looked totally at ease.

 ** _Don't worry for me, I stayed out of her eyeline. I am not so dim witted to think that Polly wouldn't recognise me. When it comes to her son, Ms Gray doesn't miss a beat. Thankfully she was distracted when a man approached her…_**

He strode towards Polly, hat in hand, and placed it on the bar. A barman brought his drink without an exchange of words and Eloise wondered about the air of confidence that radiated from the pair.  
She tried to pay attention to her date, who raised his glass for a cheers and Ellie clinked hers politely. The song that was playing came to a finish and Eloise applauded and smiled.  
From her vantage point she was able to see Polly and the man. She wasn't the only one staring.

 ** _Every so often my own date would glance over his shoulder, as though he were checking up on them too._**

Used to multi-tasking, she was able to engage her own partner in interesting enough conversation. Mentioning that she was from London was a small mistake, one that her Uncle would have been furious with, but since it was his request that she keep an ear out for any Italians in Birmingham, it was one that she was comfortable to make. London was a big place after all, and the man had a lot to say about it. While he asked her why she had chosen to come and work in the dirtiest city in England over the capital, she overheard Polly's entire conversation.

 ** _Firstly, Polly asked the man to spare Finn and Arthur in return for Tommy Shelby. He mentioned that he had known Polly's mother. She asked him again to take Tommy and spare the rest._**

 ** _Uncle, who is this man and what does he want with the Shelby family? I have accommodated your wishes and found out as much as I dare.  
Am I in danger here? Do I need to return to London?_**

 ** _All my love,_**

 ** _El x_**

Three days later she received a reply.

 _ **I'll see you soon Niece.** _


End file.
